Bloomfield students prepare for Dominican service project

Thursday

Jun 15, 2017 at 7:41 PMJun 16, 2017 at 10:26 AM

IB students will improve living conditions for Haitian refugees who harvest sugar cane

By Denise Champagne dchampagne@messengerpostmedia.com

BLOOMFIELD — They're washing cars, organizing dances, selling refreshments at events and planning all kinds of fundraisers to support a service project to the Dominican Republic at the end of the year.

Nineteen Bloomfield High School students in the International Baccalaureate program are fulfilling requirements by giving their time and talent to try to improve the lives of impoverished refugees in the bateyes of the Dominican Republican. A batey is a settlement around a sugar mill where sugarcane workers and their families live as long as they're productive.

“The bateyes have some of the lowest living standards in the Western Hemisphere,” said Adrienne Porter, who will be entering her senior year in September.

Jillian Cobb, also an incoming senior, said sugar cane workers from Haiti are brought to the bateyes with promises of work and decent living conditions, but their immigration documents are then destroyed and they are forced to stay in shacks and harvest the sugar cane. She and fellow Bloomfield students will be laying down floors in the meager living quarters and building latrines to improve sanitary conditions.

Accompanying the students will be Felice Prindle-Schulte, a school counselor whose duties include coordinating the IB CAS program, and Keith Roll, a sixth-grade English teacher. CAS stands for creativity, activity and service and is a required component of the IB Diploma Programme. That's where service projects come into play, providing not only an opportunity to travel and help people, but a tremendous learning experience, as well.

“It's a unique opportunity for students to give back and make an impact in the world,” said Roll. “It's a great opportunity to see different perspectives from a more global lens. To me, there is a hunger in Bloomfield to go out and help people.”

Prindle-Schulte said last year, the school began working with Rustic Pathways, an Ohio company arranging travel and service programs for high school students to positively impact communities around the world. Two Rustic Pathways leaders will also accompany the Bloomfield contingent.

Prindle-Schulte said Bloomfield's first international project was last year when a slightly smaller group of students went to Cuba and planted more than 700 mangrove seeds along the banks of the Zaza River to help prevent erosion.

Porter and Cobb were part of that group. Porter said their work provided a second line of defense for communities along the river to help keep the banks from overflowing.

On their way home, students already began thinking about their next project.

Prindle-Schulte said they learned about the plight of the displaced Haitians, and how they were treated and distrusted by the native people, through a documentary. They also learned about the human cost of sugar production and the exploitation of workers subjected to horrific human rights violations.

“We have a unique opportunity to help,” Prindle-Schulte said. “That is a beautiful statement, not only on our Bloomfield community, but the American community here and we're ready to help.”

The students see it as a way to help improve the Haitians' lives and give them hope, particularly for their children, many of whom begin working in the fields before their ages hit double digits.

“It hit hard,” said Jordan Golisano-VanNeil of the film. “Parents would describe watching their kids die because they had no food or water. It was very dramatic.”

Connecting with the kids is important to Cortland Greindl because, he said, they represent the future of the country and improving the physical and economical conditions of the parents allows them to do more for their children.

The group will leave Dec. 26 and return Jan. 3. While in the Dominican Republic, they will partner with ASCALA, a human rights organization, and live with its workers at its base camp near the migrant camps.

To fund the project, students need to raise money to cover their costs, which are $2,600 per student. Prindle-Schulte said more than $14,000 was raised last year through grants and sponsorships. Fund raising for this year is just getting started and students will be conducting a variety of fundraisers between now and their departure, learning additional new skills in planning, financing, marketing and sales.

Upcoming fundraisers

• Community car wash: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 22 in the parking lot of Bloomfield High School, 1 Oakmount Ave. Baked goods will be sold throughout. Grilled items will be available for lunchtime.

• Community garage sale: July 27-28 on the school lawn. More than 20 households have agreed to participate so far.